Meeting Bridgit

The other day I had the opportunity to attend a session on SMART’s Bridgit Software at the Blue Ribbon Blueprint for Excellence Conference in Reading, MA.  The presenter, Shayla Rexrode, was a representative from SMART.  She set up a video conference with one of her colleagues in Toronto in order to model the product.  I was impressed with the how easy the software was to use.  With a few clicks of a button, you can send out an email to invite all of the interested parties to attend a video conference.  The other parties do not have to own or install in Bridgit software.  As the video conference organizer, you can control the computer or you can permit other people to control the computer.  You can also view the desktop of any of the participants’ computers.  As you video conference, the participants can chat by using text. 

I was disappointed that that you could not hear each other’s voices through the computer.  The presenter set up conference call using a telephone that was in the room.  She told us that another option would be to chat using Skype.  Also, we could only see what was happening on the computer screen.  We could not see any of the participants.

There were only a handful of educators who attended this session, so we had the opportunity to share ideas. A couple of teachers said that they used similar video conference software with a high school math class.  They had their students present geometry theorems and invited the students’ parents to watch and listen in from work.  After each presentation the parents got a chance to ask questions using the chat feature.  The students were excited to answer the questions and the parents were glad they had the opportunity to see what was going on in their child’s classroom.

Another woman at the workshop works as a computer specialist.  She pointed out that this software would allow help people in other parts of the building or even other schools. One man said he had used the 30-day trial, so a student who broke his legs could attend class.  We also thought that video conferencing software would allow parents to attend PTO meetings from home, so they wouldn’t have to worry about a babysitter.

Despite the drawbacks, I impressed with the product, but I left wondering if there was a cheaper (or free) online program that has similar capabilities.  Has anyone had any experience using video conference software in his/her classroom?

 

 

In the words of Karl Fisch, “Shift Happens.”

There's been a dramatic shift in the way in which I incorporate technology into my classroom.  In one of Alan November's handouts he asks, "Is technology being used as a $2000 pencil?  Pencils are cheap, but technology is not.  If all you are going to use technology for is to replace a pencil, don't bother.  Put the school's money elsewhere.  Effective uses of technology allow teachers and students to do things that would have been impossible five years ago.  We can easily make connection with people and resources around the world that will positively impact our students."

I feel that I've been able to shift the use of technology in my classroom.  My students and I are no longer use technology as a glorified pencil, but we're using it to interact with the world.

This year we collaborated with schools from around the world on project.  I posted the project on globalschoolnet.org in August and over ten schools signed up to participate. The project was called From Our Region To Yours.  We wrote about our region and students from other schools wrote about their region.  I found that my students’ writing improved when they had to write for an authentic audience.

To help each other learn, my students created screencasts which provided tutorials about challenging match concepts and posted them to our school’s website.  Students who struggled with homework, were able to access tutorials from their home computers.  In addition to helping struggling students, the screencasts helped us in an unforeseen way.  I don’t know about your students, but my students often resist writing about math and explaining their thinking.  This was the first time my students were excited to explain their thinking and anxious to get each step just right.

The most exciting technology endeavor was making podcasts.  My students were excited to write and read scripts that would be presented to the whole world.  They enjoyed reading comments that people left for them on itunes (Search for Studio 203) and watching their popularity rate increase.

I will continue to use technology to communicate and learn from the outside world.  I am interested in learning how you have used technology to expand the walls of your classroom.

You too can get feedback from youtube

I often look at youtube for how-to videos. I learned how to change a bike tire, braise chicken and fold a fitted sheet in a manner that would make Martha Stewart proud. These videos are great, but today I witnessed a whole new way of learning on youtube. Youtube can be interactive.

This morning logged on to youtube to see how I can improve my crawl stroke technique. I saw the typical how-to swim videos, which I found helpful. Then I noticed something that I never saw before .… video responses. People posted their own swim videos and other people offered them suggestions.

This would never have happened without the Internet. Ten years ago you could have bought a how-to swim DVD, and learned how to improve your stroke, but you would have no means of soliciting feedback from thousands of strangers.

I am amazed at the power of web 2.0. (Not amazed enough to post a video of me in a bathing suit.) But where else can people communicate with people they’ve never met and get individualized feedback?

I thought about how someone could use this idea in his/her classroom. Students are more likely to listen to feedback from their peers or anonymous people than their teachers. Then I was thinking that Bill Endslow is already doing this in his classroom with his monologue project. Without the Internet, there would be no easy way for his class to collaborate with a drama class in Florida. It’s great to see teachers from our cohort leading the way.